Torrevieja Municipal Theatre and Auditorium

Torrevieja Municipal Theatre and Auditorium

Location: Torrevieja, Spain

Client: Torrevieja City Council

Date: 2006 Completion

Total Area: 4,570m²

Budget: €5.7 million

Team credits:

FOA Partner in charge: Alejandro Zaera-Polo

Project Architect: Sergio L-Pio

Design Team: Jorge Arribas, Marco Guarnieri, Clara Jorger, David Mah, Natalia Rodriguez, Daniel Valle, Nuria Vallespin, Lluis Viu Rebes

Local Architect: Antonio Marquerie, Torrevieja

Acoustics: UPV. DPTO. FISICA APLICADA. Jaime Llinares Galiana

Services: CONSULTING DE INGENIERIA ICA SL. Leandro Feliu Maqueda (INgeniero Industrial)

Structure: NB35

Scenic equipement: AUDIOTEC SISTEMAS

The Torrevieja Theatre/Auditorium is aimed to raise the profile of the town beyond its current status as a mass tourist destination in Southeast Spain.

The project includes a 650-seat theatre and auditorium located on a corner site in the town centre, and the redevelopment of a neighbouring existing plaza. Given the scarce amount of land available in respect to the required program, our project lifts the auditorium from the ground level, letting the plaza enter the site to become a foyer sitting below the cantilevered mass of the building. The public space becomes an incision into a solid mass, clad in local limestone. The building fills the maximum volume allowed on the site, completing the block’s corner.

The geometry of the auditorium generated the geometry of the cantilevered stone mass; a reminder of the landscape of limestone quarries that surrounds the town. The building has been designed as a single container where the proscenium has been made removable, allowing a seamless continuity between the audience, the stage and the scenic tower. This maximizes the flexibility of the theatre. The interior finish of the room has been designed as a system of folded planes which reflect the sound to provide ideal acoustic conditions, both for theatre and musical performances. The crystalline geometry of the interior finish and its white colour are a reference to the town’s trademark salt lakes.